http://www.thespainforum.com News from the Costa Blanca and national Spanish News online. The very latest Spanish news in English, find the latest stories hitting our region and the whole of Spain here. en Thu, 17 May 2012 01:32:15 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.thespainforum.com/images/orangetheme/misc/rss.jpg http://www.thespainforum.com http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/queen-sofia-cancels-london-trip-gibraltar-debate-hots-386837/ Wed, 16 May 2012 22:44:31 GMT Queen Sofia today cancelled the trip to London she had planned to make on Friday in honour of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, because the Government felt it was "inappropriate" in the light of ongoing conflicts with Gibraltar - ...

More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/queen-sofia-cancels-london-trip-gibraltar-debate-hots-386837/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/government-rejects-etas-request-talks-386832/ Wed, 16 May 2012 21:37:20 GMT The Spanish government has rejected a request from the Basque militant group ETA for talks, saying it has to disband and disarm before any talks can... The Spanish government has rejected a request from the Basque militant group ETA for talks, saying it has to disband and disarm before any talks can take place. The separatist group sent a press release to the AFP news agency today, ...

More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/government-rejects-etas-request-talks-386832/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/spain-today-thursday-17-2012-a-386827/ Wed, 16 May 2012 20:36:10 GMT *SPAIN TODAY - THURSDAY 17 MAY 2012, The latest news from Spain and the Costa Blanca, * Image:... SPAIN TODAY - THURSDAY 17 MAY 2012,
The latest news from Spain and the Costa Blanca,




The Spanish Ibex 35 closed business on Wednesday at 6611.5 points, maintaining the levels of 2003, with a drop of 1.33% over the previous day. However, the risk factor of Spain was looking slightly better at 484 basis points, having started the day at an all time high of 500.

There´s good news for motorists for a change this week, as well as good news for logistics, which in turn should spread into the retail sector over time, in that the Price of fuel seems to be maintaining a persistent drop, with the Price of a litre of both unleaded petrol and diesel dropping by 1.7% so far. A litre of diesel now costs 1.35 euro on average, a drop of 1.67% from last week. Unleaded is down to 1.414 per litre, down 1.53% compared to last week, which is a drop of 5.6% of the peak price of 1.498 in March.

The European Commission is to invest 3.2 million euro to help fund a study into the behaviour of bees. 205,000 of the money will be allocated to Spain, in the hope that the study can ascertain why the bee population has been suffering serious decline worldwide since 2009, with significant risks to the eco system posed by their absence.

A 33 year old Madrid traffic cop was killed on Wednesday in a freak accident alongside the M45 motorway. Two officers on motorbikes were making their way along a service road to prepare to carry out surveillance duties, when one of the officers failed to notice a chain across the road, which was being used to restrict access, riding into the obstruction and being killed instantly. An emergency ambulance attended the scene, along with a psychologist to treat the rider's partner who was considerably disturbed by the event.

The Spanish government has cancelled a trip by Queen Sofía of Spain to London, where she intended to help Queen Elizabeth with her anniversary celebrations, because of growing frictions between Spain and the UK over fishing rights off the coast of Gibraltar. Since an agreement was reached in 1999, Spanish fisherman had been permitted to fish in an area which the new governor of the Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, is now insisting on restricting. The Spanish government are supporting the fishermen.

Upon concluding an exhibition of human body parts which are on display at the Thader shopping centre in Murcia, an agreement has now been reached for the body parts to be donated to the University of Murcia to be used for educational and scientific reasons. The exhibition of 200 body parts, taking visitors on a real life journey of the human form, will be on display at the shopping centre until 14th October.

Two convicted thieves who were found in possession of various items of stolen goods in Murcia, have launched an appeal as they feel that their custodial sentence should have been much shorter than it was, due to the fact that the judge miscalculated the value of the stolen goods. They claim that the judge valued their booty at 441 euro, but he should have deducted the IVA, making the value of the goods less than 400 euro, which would have resulted in a jail term of a matter of weeks, rather than the 4 year term they were given. Although the idea may seem ridiculous at first, it has highlighted that the Spanish judicial system is flawed in so much as some courts do deduct the IVA, whereas others, such as the one in this case, do not. Therefore, there could be many more people who have suffered longer incarceration than somebody who was found to have stolen goods of a higher retail value, but at a lesser criminal rate.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/34309/

Home Insurance | Spanish Home Insurance | Home Insurance in Spain | Spanish Property | Spain Property | Spanish Real Estate | Spain Real Estate ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/spain-today-thursday-17-2012-a-386827/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/alves-cup-final-386814/ Wed, 16 May 2012 20:06:01 GMT Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola faces a defensive dilemma ahead of next week's King's Cup final after it was confirmed Dani Alves had broken his collarbone during training. The Brazilian right back was scheduled to be operated on at the Hospital de Barcelona on Wednesday afternoon.

Alves joins fellow defenders Carles Puyol, Andreu Fontàs and Éric Abidal on the sidelines, leaving Guardiola somewhat short-handed for the match against Athletic Bilbao. Gerard Piqué and Javier Mascherano will form the center back pairing with likely support from Adriano on the left and one of Barcelona B's defenders filling in for Alves. Guardiola has used Barça B right back Martín Montoya more regularly this season, handing the 21-year-old 10 appearances with the first team.

Vicente del Bosque said on Wednesday that he would wait until the last moment to decide whether to take Puyol, who underwent knee surgery last week, and David Villa, who is recovering from a broken shinbone, to the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. The Spain coach announced a provisional squad on Tuesday but has until May 27 to make his definitive selection. "Puyol is a leader of the team and there is no hurry, and Villa represents efficiency in front of goal. In 10 days we'll cease to have doubts," Del Bosque said.

In the meantime, the Spain coach will be watching with concern as some Liga clubs embark on thoroughly absurd money-spinning tours around the globe as other nations gather together their squads for the finals. Real Madrid has gone divining for cash in Kuwait, where it will pocket three million euros for an exhibition match against the national side in near 40-degree heat on Wednesday. Atlético, which has three players in the provisional squad, has sought to cash in on the hugely popular Radamel Falcao with a jaunt to the player's native Colombia.



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/alves-cup-final-386814/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/monument-debt-386813/ Wed, 16 May 2012 20:06:01 GMT Among visitors last week to Torrejón de Ardoz's Parque Europa were Fang-Fang Ye and her husband Miaopo Xu, a Chinese couple who live in Tenerife. They had just got married, and were celebrating the occasion, along with their guests, with a visit to the theme park located 25 kilometers northeast of Madrid, complete with a 60-centimeter deep boating lake, that is home to 16 replicas (of varying scales) of some of Europe's best-known buildings and monuments.

Fang-Fang Ye and his guests say that they had heard about the park, but that it was their Spanish photographer who insisted that this was the ideal way to spend their wedding afternoon. They were photographed standing in front of the Puerta del Sol, the Brandenburg Gate, Tower Bridge and Lisbon's Belém Tower.

Asked if they aware of the controversy that surrounds the park, opened in 2010, and visited since by some two million people, according to the town hall, they said they knew nothing.

As well as the replicas, the town hall planted 5,000 trees, 60,000 shrubs and 120,000 flowers in the 233,000-square-meter complex, designating it a green area.

The Popular Party-controlled council says it cost 12 million euros to build, while the opposition says the real cost was 15 million euros.

There is also disagreement over the running costs, which town hall says amount to 600,000 euros a year, slightly less than the income in generates, and which provides some 120 jobs. The Socialist Party says that the annual running costs are more than three million euros. "And that is lower than in the first year, when the costs were five million euros," says the party's spokesman in Torrejón, Guillermo Fouce, adding: "It costs 200,000 euros a month in water alone."

The park has a 1,100-square-meter boating lake surrounding the reproduction of the Belém Tower. "If somebody puts their hand in the water it has to be amputated," chuckles Antonio, a Murcian tourist. "It doesn't matter whether it cost 12 million or 15 million euros, because it isn't worth either figure. The park makes no sense. The point is that the town hall can't afford to run the place. The water in the lakes has no oxygen in it. I don't think anybody uses the water skate park either, because it's very dirty," he adds, stating that he is in the park purely "because somebody in the family insisted on coming."

Juan, a Torrejón resident, goes further: "This park is pure propaganda. Even so, they have done it well. But I think it's madness, they've spent money they didn't have, and all on the back of the taxpayers."

Torrejón council has just announced a financial restructuring plan. It owes 70 million euros. A significant part of that debt, although the mayor's office won't say how much, is related to the construction of the park.

The town is not alone in facing a mountain of debt. After two decades of what many analysts and officials say has been unbridled spending off the back of easy credit during the economic boom years, growing numbers of villages, towns, and major cities are finding that revenue has all but dried up in the economic crisis.

In March Spain's government approved a new loan fund, in conjunction with banks, so that towns could soon get cash to pay suppliers. The loans would be paid back over 10 years at favorable rates.

But all this was of little concern to visitors like Ye and Xu on Europe Day last week, or Fernando, a local 60-year-old resident of Torrejón, who received some unexpected news the same day. "Yes, yes, the park is all well and good but it would have been better if they had used this money to help people that need it most. Seven years ago I asked for a subsidized home and today I received a letter saying that I had been granted it. Yes, but in Galapagar. After a lifetime here I have to go. Really I shouldn't say that it will be a bad day but that I should be happy. And I came here to meditate."



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/monument-debt-386813/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/socialists-govern-asturias-reaching-accord-upyd-386812/ Wed, 16 May 2012 20:06:01 GMT Socialist Javier Fernández on Wednesday looked set to form a government in the northern region of Asturias with the support of the United Left (IU)... Socialist Javier Fernández on Wednesday looked set to form a government in the northern region of Asturias with the support of the United Left (IU) and the centrist UPyD grouping after reaching a “basic agreement” with the latter.

The political situation in Asturias has been gridlocked since elections on March 25 from which the Socialist and the IU on the one side, and the right-leaning Asturias Citizens Forum (FAC) and the conservative Popular Party on the other each emerged with 22 lawmakers in the local parliament.

The Socialist last week had failed the garner the support of the single UPyD lawmaker to allow Fernández to be sworn in as regional premier. UPyD demanded that the regional election law be changed to impose a single election precinct rather than the three that currently exist in exchange for its support.

The Socialists were reluctant to move in this direction and conditioned any change to a cross-party accord, which they have now managed to swing, with details of the agreement still to be ironed out.



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/socialists-govern-asturias-reaching-accord-upyd-386812/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/risk-premium-hits-high-rajoy-dismisses-bailout-386811/ Wed, 16 May 2012 20:06:01 GMT As Spain’s risk premium hit a new euro-era high, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday dismissed the idea that Spain is negotiating some type of... As Spain’s risk premium hit a new euro-era high, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday dismissed the idea that Spain is negotiating some type of help to overcome its problems.

“Nothing of the sort has been discussed, and I have talks with the main European leaders almost every week,” Rajoy said in his first public appearance this week, which has been marked by turbulence in the financial markets on fears of Greece exiting the euro and doubts about the Spanish banking system

The spread between the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond and the German equivalent hit a new euro-era high of 507 basis points before closing at 482 basis points. The blue-chip Ibex 35 closed down 1.33 percent at 6,611.50 points, a level last seen in 2003.

“The risk premium rate has risen significantly, which means that it is difficult to finance but we’re doing what we have to do to ensure that the route Spain takes is the right one,” Rajoy said.

Picking up on what his economy minister, Luis de Guindos, has been hammering home this week, Rajoy indicated he would like a stronger defense of the euro project as a whole.

“I think that the debate over austerity and growth makes little sense because one thing is compatible with the other as well as one thing being necessary for the other. I think there is a third thing that nobody is talking about. Austerity yes, growth also, but what I would also like is a strong message on the euro project and the sustainability of the public debt of all European countries.

Rajoy, however, avoiding saying whether what he wanted was intervention by the ECB or the creation of eurobonds.

“Making public declarations [on what should be done] makes no sense. The euro needs to be strengthened. I don’t want Greece to leave the euro; it would be a mistake and bad news. Every country should do what it has to do to guarantee the sustainability of public debt.”

During question time in Congress, Rajoy rejected an offer from the leader of the main opposition Socialist Party, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, to form a pact to help Spain overcome its problems.

Rajoy justified the spending cuts included in the government’s austerity drive as necessary to get the country “out of the hole” it is in. “I am very aware of how tough the situation is and the difficulties that many people are having,” the prime minister added.

The Rajoy administration is aiming to reduce Spain’s public deficit from 8.5 percent of GDP last year to 5.3 percent this year.



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/risk-premium-hits-high-rajoy-dismisses-bailout-386811/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/guardia-civil-short-sleeves-summer-386810/ Wed, 16 May 2012 19:27:02 GMT But there bosses have said 'No'.

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. ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/guardia-civil-short-sleeves-summer-386810/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/alcal-de-henares-vetoes-gay-bashing-bishop-386809/ Wed, 16 May 2012 19:27:02 GMT Image: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/5/juanantonioreigpl__2_thumb.jpg The Bishop went on national TV at Easter and criticised the... The Bishop went on national TV at Easter and criticised the lifestyle of homosexuals and the practice of abortion.

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The latest news from Spain and the Costa Blanca,




ORIHUELA MAYOR HOPES FOR CONFIDENCE

The future of the municipality of Orihuela is now likely to lie in a vote of confidence in the mayor, Los Verdes green party politician Monserrate Guillén.

Following the decision by councillor Bob Houliston not to support the government team in implementing the 2012 budget, various options came to light which would enforce the plan, one being if the mayor wins the backing of a vote of confidence.

However, in the meantime, the mayor´s personal Facebook profile has disappeared and has been replaced by one calling for his resignation, which was quickly supported by a number of Partido Popular members.

SURGEONS COME TO TORREVIEJA

More than a hundred Orthopaedists and Orthopaedic Surgeons from across the Valencia region will descend on Torrevieja this weekend, attending a conference on trauma and orthopaedic Surgery.

The conference will provide a platform for specialists involved in three main areas of trauma, namely the shoulder, hand and foot.

The Surgical Director of the Department of Health in Torrevieja, José Antonio Velasco, said that the conference is, "a unique opportunity to exchange experiences with professionals and peers in the context of pioneering technological advances of the specialty of orthopaedic surgery and attend keynote presentations by specialists of international reputation in the specialty of orthopaedic and trauma surgery. "

ORIHUELA CELEBRATING MUSEUMS

Orihuela city is getting fully behind the International Museum Day which is celebrated on Friday, as well as the fairly new diversion of a Night at the Museum on Saturday night.

The department of culture has announced that they will be marking the event with activities such as street entertainers, guided tours and workshops and admission to the city´s museums will be free, including staying open until midnight on Saturday.

Full details of the event can be obtained at the tourist information office, and t is hoped that this will raise awareness of some of the most historic artefacts on display in the museums of the city.

LAZY DAYS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

In a somewhat original initiative, the town hall of Santa Pola has announced that they will offer discounted beach sun loungers and parasols to unemployed bathers.

The aim is to improve accessibility to the beach for those who may find it financially difficult, without wanting to simply lie on the sand, and has received the full backing of the council. A discount scheme for the young and the elderly was already in place, but the councillor for beaches applauds the extension to the unemployed and the scheme will have an initial run until 15th June.

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Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/34308/

Home Insurance | Spanish Home Insurance | Home Insurance in Spain | Spanish Property | Spain Property | Spanish Real Estate | Spain Real Estate ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/local-news-thursday-17-2012-a-386803/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/queen-sofia-cancels-trip-london-celebrations-queens-60-years-386802/ Wed, 16 May 2012 18:18:46 GMT Image: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/5/queensofia_2_thumb.jpg The Spanish Government has instructed Queen Sofía not to go because... The Spanish Government has instructed Queen Sofía not to go because of the current frictions over Gibraltar

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. ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/queen-sofia-cancels-trip-london-celebrations-queens-60-years-386802/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/dani-alves-breaks-collar-bone-play-bar-kings-cup-final-386801/ Wed, 16 May 2012 18:18:46 GMT Image: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/5/dani_alves_thumb.jpg The Brazilian broke it in a fall during training. Read More...... The Brazilian broke it in a fall during training.

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. ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online News Spain http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/dani-alves-breaks-collar-bone-play-bar-kings-cup-final-386801/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/lorca-love-letter-386793/ Wed, 16 May 2012 15:56:37 GMT Seemingly indifferent to the terrible events unfolding around him and the dangers they posed, in July of 1936 Federico García Lorca was concerned... Seemingly indifferent to the terrible events unfolding around him and the dangers they posed, in July of 1936 Federico García Lorca was concerned only with persuading his 19-year-old lover, Juan Ramírez de Lucas, to convince his parents to allow him to leave Spain for Mexico with him.

Indeed, in his letter dated July 18, the day that General Francisco Franco’s military uprising was announced, García Lorca still seems unaware of the cataclysm about to be unleashed: “In your letter there are things that you shouldn’t, that you can’t, think. You are worth so much, and you will be recompensed.

“Think about what you can do, and let me know straight away so that I can help you in whatever way, but be very careful. I am very worried, but knowing you, I am also sure that you will overcome every obstacle because you are overflowing with enough energy, grace, and happiness, as we flamencos say, to stop a train.”

Ramírez had met 38-year-old Lorca, author of Blood Wedding, Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba, in Madrid the year before, where he was completing his studies to become a civil servant. An aspiring actor, he had performed in several productions staged by Lorca, and the pair had fallen deeply in love.

Lorca was well connected and politically active, and was aware of the rumors of a military revolt against the Second Republic. He had already decided to accept an invitation to visit Mexico, but now he wanted to go with Ramírez.

The problem was that Ramírez came from a traditional provincial family of 10 children, and his father felt betrayed that his son had secretly pursued his dream of a career in acting, although he had passed his exams.

Lorca could probably have arranged for false papers for Ramírez, who was still not old enough to travel, but refused, telling his lover that he must explain things fully to his father, and get his permission to leave the country.

“I think of you all the time, and you know this without me having to say it, but silently, and between the lines, you should be able to read the love I feel for you, and the tenderness in my heart… Count on me always. I am your best friend and I ask you to be political and not allow yourself to be washed along by the river [of fate],” Lorca wrote.

According to Ramírez’s diaries, he and Lorca discussed leaving Spain together and both went to their separate homes to bid farewell to their families in the weeks leading up to the outbreak of civil war.

Ramírez details his father’s angry opposition, refusing to issue his son with papers so he could leave Spain. Lorca’s decision to return to Granada would cost him his life, and historians have often wondered why he put himself in danger.

Ramírez did not receive Lorca’s missive until July 22, shortly before all communication links broke down between areas controlled by Franco’s forces and those of the Republican army.

By this time, the poet and playwright had left Madrid, and was staying at his family’s summer home near Granada. A month later, on August 18, Lorca was seized by pro-Franco thugs and shot the next day. His body has never been found.

The murder happened during a period when Franco’s supporters took advantage of the chaos of the war to unleash a reign of terror against anybody suspected of Republican sympathies. There has also been speculation that Lorca’s homosexuality, which was well known, was also a motive.

The letter is part of a collection of papers that include a poem written in Lorca’s hand on the inside cover of a textbook to which EL PAÍS has been given exclusive access. The papers have come to light two years after the death of Ramírez, who had kept his relationship with Lorca a secret until his death, aged 91, in 2010.

The short poem, dated May 1935, is entitled Romance, and describes Ramírez as “that young man from La Mancha,” repeating: “he came, mother, and looked at me. I cannot look at him!”

It was apparently written on a journey the two lovers made to the southern city of Córdoba. The poem is handwritten on the back of a receipt for the Orad Academy in Madrid, where Ramírez de Lucas was studying.

A handwriting expert has reviewed the poem and declared that it was written by García Lorca. The poem was composed at the same time as Lorca was writing his famous “dark love” sonnets.

Lorca experts have welcomed the decision by Ramírez de Lucas to allow his personal documents to see the light, given their historical importance. Laura García Lorca, the poet’s niece, already knew about the existence of the letter, and said it could be “of enormous interest” for the archives of the Lorca Foundation, which she heads alongside her sister.

The publication of the letter and love poem to Ramírez comes in the run-up to a major exhibition that Laura García Lorca is organizing in New York.

Lorca biographer Ian Gibson, who lives in Spain, says he believes the documents will shed new light on Lorca’s last days.

Gibson says that during his exhaustive research into Lorca, Ramírez’s name came up as someone who was close to the poet in his final weeks, but that he had always refused to be interviewed.

“I did everything possible to interview him,” reveals Gibson. “I knew that his relationship with Lorca was very important. I did manage to talk to him, but he said he didn’t want to talk to me; he said that he was working on publishing something himself, and I thought he just wanted to get rid of me.”

“We can only hope that the papers will be made available soon,” says Gibson, who believes the letter is likely to be the last one that Lorca wrote. “According to my information, the painter Pepe Caballero wrote a letter to Lorca around this time, but it was returned to him unopened.”

A novel by Manuel Francisco Reina, Los amores oscuros (The dark loves), which is due out on May 22, retraces that relationship, while Ramírez de Lucas’ family is reportedly talking to a major publisher about a book deal.

Like many others looking for a way to erase the sins of the past after the Civil War, Ramírez de Lucas joined the Blue Division, the military unit that Franco sent to help Hitler after the invasion of Russia in 1941. He was wounded and decorated.

After the war, with the help of poet Luis Rosales, he found work as an architecture and art critic for the newspaper Abc, working there for the rest of his life until his retirement in the 1980s.

Ramírez de Lucas never talked about his relationship with Lorca, although it was well known among his colleagues. Not even his new partner, with whom he spent 30 years, knew about his affair with the famous writer.

In later life, after the death of Franco, he began to write about the tragic events that had marked his early life.

Shortly before his death, he handed over the documents, along with the material related to Lorca, to one of his sisters, saying he wanted them to be published.

“We knew there was a great love who in a way provided inspiration for the Sonetos del amor oscuro [Sonnets of dark love], but we didn’t know his name,” says the poet Félix Grande.

“In many conversations I had with Rosales he told me that all the days that Lorca spent hiding in his house, he kept correcting those verses nonstop. I never managed to get him to say the name. Rosales had promised Federico that he would keep the secret, and he was a man of his word,” he says.



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/lorca-love-letter-386793/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/room-bed-scolding-386792/ Wed, 16 May 2012 15:56:37 GMT The main defendant in what is being billed as Spain’s biggest juvenile sexual abuse scandal said during his trial on Tuesday that the entire charges... The main defendant in what is being billed as Spain’s biggest juvenile sexual abuse scandal said during his trial on Tuesday that the entire charges brought against him are part of a plot aimed at breaking “the monopoly” he had on karate schools in Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands.

Fernando Torres Baena, who is facing more than 100 sex abuse counts, denied having sex with any of his male or female students under the age of 18 as prosecutors have charged. Once one of Spain’s top karate champions, Torres Baena only admitted having sexual relations with two of his gym monitors — his wife María José González and Ivonne González — who are also standing trial for allegedly helping him lure and bait victims for his pleasure.

“When you win national and international tournaments, you celebrate in any way you can,” Torres Baena said, referring to the sex he had with his gym monitors.

Torres Baena is the first of the defendants to testify in the so-called “karate case.” Prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to 303 years in jail on 36 counts of sexual abuse and 13 other crimes related to the corruption of minors.

They confronted the defendant, after he took the stand in his own defense, about certain key locations where his accusers had described the abuses as having taken place, including a small room with a bed and the third floor of the gym. The court filings include a host of complaints from 61 students describing anal and ******* penetrations, fellatio, masturbation and other sexual acts, all of which Torres Baena has denied.

The room prosecutors described in court was where Torres Baena said he kept “gym equipment” and used on occasion “to scold” students because it was better to do so in private so as “not to humiliate them.” The entrance to this particular room was restricted, he added.

When asked if he felt that his karate kids felt humiliated by his scolding, the defendant replied: “One thing is what I do, and another is what others feel.” After the court filings were unsealed, Torres Baena recalled that he read them over and over for about eight hours a day and thought “this doesn’t make sense.”

The karate instructor was prolific in his answers, concentrating on what was being asked, and never breaking once to open the water bottle near him. But the challenging grins and smirks that were evident during the opening day of the trial were gone; the only gesture Torres Baena performed in the dock was to put on and take off his eyeglasses, which dangled on a ropechain.

Investigators, who say the abuse took place for at least 15 years before Torres Baena and others were arrested, say the defendants had organized a type of sexual sect at the karate school.

Trial prosecutor Pedro Jimeno cross-examined Torres Baena with tough, to-the-point questions.

“Did you have anal sex with the witness?” Jimeno asked about one boy’s version of events. Concerning a 14-year-old male, Torres Baena was again asked: “Did you make him touch your genitals?” And referring to a 16-year-old student: “Did you and him have mutual fellatio?”

Torres Baena denied all the charges.

“Why do you think they have said all these things about you?” the prosecutor asked.

“I will explain this in due course,” the defendant responded.

Torres Baena, 57, said he had the best karate school in Spain, and had planned on bringing internationally renowned teachers to his school.

He recognized almost all of the 61 names of students who filed complaints against him, and admitted that many would spend time with him and the gym monitors at his home in Agüimes, situated about an hour and a half outside Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

He said the mass gatherings took place before important competitions, but denied prosecutors’ contentions that these parties were actually orgies.

Torres Baena said he never tried to “sexually orient” any of his students. The entire case, he said, was part of a plot hatched by the Karate Federation in the Canaries to knock down his profitable business.

On Thursday, Torres Baena is expected to personally hear from one of his accusers. José María Palomino has agreed to take the stand on behalf of 60 of the 61 alleged victims.



More... ]]> Spain News, Latest Spanish news in English online Spanish News http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/room-bed-scolding-386792/ http://www.thespainforum.com/f188/spain-business-wednesday-16-2012-a-386791/ Wed, 16 May 2012 15:56:37 GMT Image: http://www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/5/martafern_ndezcurr_s_thumb.jpg The Risk Premium in Spain rises as the fears over Greece... The Risk Premium in Spain rises as the fears over Greece continue

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